Firm gets 48 hrs to clean up its act

The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) has cracked the whip on the contractor of the Bandhwari solid waste treatment plant, AKC Developers Ltd, giving it a 48-hour ultimatum to make the second unit of waste segregation operational latest by 4pm on Thursday.

Since the launch of the plant in 2010, only one segregation unit is functional and this is affecting the waste sorting process, reducing the plant’s capacity by half.

The MCG has also asked the contractor to mandatorily put in place the second weighing machine at the main entry-exit gate, according to the contract.

As the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad and MCG have a joint 30-year agreement with the contractor, any action against the firm needs to have the mandate of both the civic bodies.

MCG commissioner Ashok Sangwan has written a letter to his Faridabad counterpart Dr Abhe Singh Yadav for joint action.

Confirming reports of talks between the two corporations, Yadav hinted at revisiting the agreement clause and making needful changes for the benefit of the two NCR cities.

“I have received letter from the MCG commissioner and we are jointly working together to ensure that the firm improves the waste plant’s functioning and if it does not visibly happen, we will not hesitate in terminating the contract after ten days, by the end of the month,” Yadav said.

“Both the corporations are really concerned about nuisances such as groundwater contamination, land filling, slow waste sorting, below-capacity functioning etc. We are not going to compromise on these issues,” he added.

Anju Chaudhary, joint commissioner, MCG, said the shortfalls amount to gross negligence by the contractor and it is resulting in slow waste sorting and land filling in Aravalli.

According a former MCG official, garbage trucks from Gurgaon and Faridabad wait for hours at the main gate.

“The trucks dump the waste in the Aravalli Hills to avoid wastage of time and fuel,” he said. A week ago, the MCG had asked the plant management to enhance its functional capacity from 600 tonne to 1,200 tonne daily, asking the contractor to submit its plan by the end of March.